Classic play Blood Brothers to appear on Rossendale stage

WILLY RUSSELL’S tragic tale of twin brothers separated at birth is being retold by Rossendale Players from the weekend.

The Waterfoot-based company will stage the play version of Blood Brothers, which is perhaps best known in its musical form.

The Johnston boys, Eddie and Mickey are born into a poor, working class family in Liverpool and their mother is forced to give one infant up for adoption as she struggles to make ends meet.

Their paths eventually collide as they grow older, with tragic consequences as they reach adulthood.

Players spokeswoman Hazel Mrozek, who will play Mrs Lyons – the upper class but childless woman Mrs Johnston works for, and whom she gives up son Eddie to – said: “Blood Brothers looks at the differences and conflicts of their upbringings, their relationship with each other and with their real and adopted mothers.

“It is fast moving and perceptive, entertaining and thought provoking, funny, yet tragic. This is not a play to be missed.”

Staring as the brothers are Daniel Starkie as Mickey, and Matthew Holmes as Eddie, with Carole Bardsley as Mrs Johnston, Hazel Mrozek as Mrs Lyons, Isobel Balchin as Linda, Liam Husband as the narrator and Siobhan Morris as the policewoman.

Blood Brothers opens at the Millennium Theatre, Waterfoot, on Saturday with tickets costing £10 including a pie and beer, followed by a charity performance on Sunday in aid of the Haslingden-based Cotton Shed Theatre Company – which encourages disabled and less-able bodied children to showcase their theatrical talents.

The run then continues from Tuesday, January 29 to Saturday, February 2, with tickets costing £7 from Watts Newsagents or by calling Anne on 01706 228720.